Noble fully redeems US$735 million worth of bonds

Noble Group said on Thursday that it has fully redeemed US$735 million worth of bonds as the Singapore-listed commodities group battles to win back investors. PHOTO: REUTERS

SINGAPORE - Noble Group said on Thursday that it has fully redeemed US$735 million worth of bonds as the Singapore-listed commodities group battles to win back investors.

Noble in a statement said that it has fully redeemed the 2015 Securities on their scheduled maturity date. The redeemed US$500 million of 2015 Senior Notes have been cancelled on Aug 5, 2015 and there are no 2015 Securities outstanding, it said.

Noble said it has also redeemed in full US$235 million of the 6.625 per cent Senior Notes due 2020, on Aug 5 and there are no 2020 Securities outstanding.

The company on Monday stepped up its campaign to reverse a dramatic plunge in its share price on concerns about its accounting practices.

It refuted rumours it would be unable to fund the redemption of the $735 million worth of bonds that were due on Aug 4 saying it had said it had ample funds to do so and still have remaining readily available cash of well over US$1 billion. In addition to cash, Noble said it also has US$15 billion in bank lines.

The company is also bringing forward the release of its second-quarter results and a PwC review of its accounting practices to next Monday.

Noble, whose stock had lost more than half their value since February after anonymous group Iceberg first queried its accounting policies, saw its share price rebound on short-covering after Monday's assurance, before it fell again on Wednesday.

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